Wrestling to dancing, making the most of the capital city

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Entering La Paz was an impressive view; the city is based within mountains and is vast. I fell in love with the hustle and bustle of the city. There were no normal buses but hundreds of Volkswagen-like vans (seated for around 15 people) constantly driving around. Our hostel was on the doorstep of the Witches & Black Market so we spent a day strolling and shopping.

Cholite Wrestling
Jane's friend recommended cholite wrestling; cholite is the name of the ladies involved. It was great fun! The acting was horrendous and some of them were clearly tired and didn't even try reacting to the "hit". But we joined in with the locals, shouting and booing at the baddies, laughing at the goodies defeating them against all odds. Several times characters were thrown over the barrier into our seating area. Wolfman pretended to strangle a fellow traveller who sat in front of me before returning to his match.

Traditional music
For dinner we decided to go to a Pena restaurant which has a traditional Bolivian folk band. They were very good and discussed the inspiration of the music between songs. Afterwards we headed to a club so we could dance the night away.

Tiwanaku 
The site has pre-Incan ruins. To be honest they were bit disappointing as most of it was reconstruction from the 70's (and it shows!) However the original statues were great and the guide explained the different elements to their way of life during the period. There was a small square which contained 170 stone faces representing past important tribesmen.

During our time in La Paz Lucille rejoined us with some friends we'd made in Santiago and those she befriended at Spanish school. We went for nice evening meals and few drinks with them. They were great company and hope to see some of them again later in Peru.

Next stop is Lake Titicaca on the border between Bolivia & Peru.

Sent from my iPod

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